Welcome to Care-a-Lot - Episode 5

When AGP took down the Welcome to Care-a-Lot preview episode from their website, I promised someone I'd do a write up with screenshots, but in the time it took for me to do so, AGP put the episode back up.  However, they didn't simply put the episode back up, but instead put up a premix cut.  The only difference I can tell is lower quality, plus a timeclock and title stamp on the video.  So I figure I might as well continue to post this, since at the very least I'll have better screenshots.

Compassion Not
So, Funshine has all manner of fun stuff planned, but none of the other Care Bears are able to join him: Cheer has to weed her garden, Share has to clean her house before teatime, Harmony has to soundproof the birdhouses in the forest, and Grumpy is too hungry to care (plus he has errands).  Bummed out, Funshine just flops out where he is, which is where Tenderheart finds him.  He admits to the older bear that he can still have fun on his own, but it would be so much better with someone else.  And so Tenderheart summons a girl named Penny to Care-a-Lot, explicitly to hang out with Funshine, but also to learn a lesson.  Penny, it seems, is more than just a little self-centered, as her first act is to crow about how so many kids want to visit Care-a-Lot, but too bad for them 'cause they're not her.
Funshine is immediately taken with this girl, as he and Penny bond over their shared love of roller blading and extreme sports.  Though Penny continually jumps into things without listening and makes sure she gets to do everything first, Funshine just brushes this off, so glad is he to finally have met his perfect match.
Meanwhile, Grumpy traverses Care-a-Lot in his camper van, and comes across a shortcut that is, unfortunately, forbidden.  But this matters not to Grumpy, and he just continues on his way.  His disobedience seems to be rewarded when he comes across a dragonbeehive that's devoid of dragonbees.  As he rides his cherrypicker attachment up to the hive, he muses:

It's moments like these I think "what would Tenderheart say?"
*imitating Tenderheart* "Grumpy, I have a feeling that dragonbees wouldn't like that."
To which I think back, "I have a feeling that I don't care."  'Cause when I get home, I'm gonna have the feeling of sweet, sweet honey in my belly.

(No matter the version, Grumpy is the best.)  He plucks the hive from its perch and tries to continue on his way, only to find his van is stuck in the mud.  And not just any mud, but stick-til-you're-stuck-sand.  With a bit of effort, he manages to push his van back onto dry ground, but at the cost of sinking into the sand himself.  In this vulnerable state, he's approached by Beastly, though not the one from the 80's series.  I'm not sure what this guy's deal is, but no doubt that'll be explained in the first episode.  From this episode alone, he appears to be the king of some kind of creatures, as he has both a crown and two minions who lack proper speech.  Hearing that Grumpy got stuck while getting honey, Beastly makes off with the hive, leaving Grumpy stuck.

Left alone, Grumpy attempts to use his belly badge to call for help, but he's sunk too low into the sand for that. Fortunately, his cries for help are loud enough to be heard by Harmony in the forest, and she wastes no time in gathering everyone together.  Everyone except Funshine, that is.  Cheer heads off to find Funshine while the others go to find and help Grumpy.  But as Funshine and Penny are still hanging out at Adventure Beach, it doesn't take Cheer too long to find them, though it does take some doing to get them both to come and help.  Funshine has already begun to succumb to Penny's bad influence, you see, but not entirely, and so the three of them set off, though Penny happens to notice a certain vehicle floating in the water as they go.
Meanwhile, the others (including Wonderheart) search for Grumpy, finding his van before finding him.  Share spins the many possible things that could have happened to him, ending with "...maybe he's wandering the earth as a lost vagabond, seeking redemption for all the horrible things he- oh, wait, there he is." (I just love that line.  Especially the fact that she includes "horrible."  Grumpy, what kind of things are you up to in this series?)  Sure enough, Grumpy's still stuck in the sand, and not too pleased with the slowness of the other bears to help him get out.  So Tenderheart starts to reach out for Grumpy, but realizes that Grumpy is far enough in that they can't get him out without getting themselves stuck, too.  But there's rope in Grumpy's van, and soon the bears have a jerry-rigged pulley to get him out.
As the others pull, Cheer, Funshine, and Penny arrive.  Cheer immediately joins in the pulling, but Penny pulls Funshine back, pointing out that the power of five bears is bound to be enough to get Grumpy out, and since they're not needed, it's time to get back to the fun!  Funshine hesitates, but all-too-soon agrees with her, and the two split.  As they arrive back at Adventure Beach, Funshine starts to have second thoughts about leaving his friends, but Penny assures him that Grumpy will be fine.  Plus, she has an awesome idea....
However, power of five bears was, in fact, not enough to get Grumpy out of the mud, and Funshine and Penny's absence is quickly noticed.  While thinking about what else to try, Share passes out some tea and shares some gossip with Harmony (apparently Tenderheart was in a band back in his younger days).  Cheer proposes that they build a house around Grumpy, and Harmony latches onto that idea, as she has numerous housing designs she'd love to try.  Grumpy objects to this train of thought, and to the tea, but takes the crumpet Share offers.  Tenderheart asks the million dollar question (that is, what was Grumpy doing in a forbidden area anyway), and Grumpy is forced to admit that he stole the dragonbee's honey.  And there just happen to be a couple of dragonbees above them to hear that confession and take it straight to the queen.
The need to get Grumpy out of the sand gets a lot more urgent once Harmony hears the dragonbees approaching, so Wonderheart suggests using the van to pull the rope.  Unfortunately, the van is a stick shift, and only Grumpy knows how to drive it.  Still, Share volunteers to try, but even instruction from Grumpy can't help her.  Harmony remembers that Funshine has an ATV, but when they go to retrieve it, they are shocked to find it missing.
Not for long, though, as it's obvious who took it.  Tenderheart and Wonderheart head one way, and Harmony and Share head the other, hoping that between the two groups, they'll find Funshine and Penny before the dragonbees arrive.  Cheer, meanwhile, is keeping Grumpy company, though he'd rather she didn't.  Funshine and Penny, on the other hand, are oblivious to the danger, just having a good time in the ATV.  Funshine proposes he jump the ATV over the hill, so Penny climbs out to watch.  She uses a rope ladder to get a better view on the branch of a tree, but when she reaches the top, she almost loses her footing, accidentally knocking over the ladder in the process.  She calls for Funshine to help her, but the ATV is too loud for him to hear her.  Assuming Funshine forgot her in all the fun, Penny resigns herself to life in a tree, until she's spotted by Harmony and Share.  Harmony, to Share's surprise, suggests leaving the girl in the larch, and the irony of this is not lost on Penny.  She agrees that she deserves to be left there, but begs forgiveness, which Harmony gives.  With a little help from the birds, the ladder is soon back in place.  Penny climbs back down and thanks her saviors, now ready to help Grumpy.
But first they need the ATV, which Funshine is just then jumping over the hill.  His landing leaves something to be desired, but he himself is okay, and so is the ATV.  Funshine revs up to try again, but Penny stops him, telling him they need to help Grumpy now.  Funshine is confused by her sudden turnaround in ideals, but Penny explains the lesson she learned (it's selfish not to help your friends), and Funshine also begins to feel remorse for his behavior.  But there's no time for that, Harmony points out, as she quickly explains the situation.  And so the four drive in the ATV to where Grumpy is stuck.
Unfortunately, the dragonbees arrive before the rope has been tied to the ATV.  To buy a little time, Harmony uses her badge to create a flower illusion that distracts the bees.  With the rope attached at last, Funshine drives the ATV, pulling Grumpy out, then goes to apologize for not helping sooner, as does Penny.  Grumpy's just glad to be out of the mud, with everything all wrapped up.  Except the dragonbees are still there, and Harmony's illusion fades.  The bees, however, do not immediately attack, but instead ask what's up with stealing the honey?  (with Share translating, as she's the only one who understands dragonbee, I guess.)  Grumpy boldly sets the record straight that only he was involved in the honeystealing, and the queen demands the hive back.  The other bears are all, "Yeah, just give it to them already," unaware that Grumpy is no longer in possession of it.  And when Grumpy admits that Beastly stole it from him, the dragonbees immediately vacate the premises to go chase after him.  They even chase him after he returns the hive, presumably because he'd already eaten all the honey by then.  Happy ending!

So yeah, that was actually better than I was expecting.  There were some parts that made me laugh, and a number of good lines.  And this is probably just me, but Penny's obnoxiousness made her a pretty entertaining character.  That, and her corrupting of Funshine.  Animation-wise, it's not the greatest, but I like the textures, especially how fuzzy the bears are.  Obviously I'm going to need to see more episodes before I can make a real verdict on this show, but at least I'm not feeling as much trepidation as I was before.

Misc. Screenshots
Harmony's stylin'
Jumping on a bridge
Grumpy's victory pose
Harmony balks
Who knows how to drive a stick?
The dragonbees are coming!

Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot is coming soon

So the latest Care Bears series finally has a release date.  Though previously said to be coming Fall 2012, it's actually debuting in one month exactly.  There's a short promo already:



The website has also been updated, with character profiles and color pages, with videos coming next week.  However, AGP's official site has a full episode up, if you're curious.
Edit: Scratch that, they took it down.  Was it put up too early, or was it because I linked to it? (That's happened before.)  Stop doing that, AGP!

Share Bear Shines at last!

Well, two years after it was slated to come out, Share Bear Shines, the first (but now last) of the Care Power Team movies, finally made it to the states.

This one starts up with Oopsy stranded in the middle of nowhere on a rapidly deteriorating cloud.  Fortunately for him, the CPT is on the job!  Once they spot him, Share calls for them to activate their care power, though that shouldn't be necessary, as they're not that far from him.  Just drive up and get him, seriously.  But of course it's not that simple, as the last of the cloud dissapates, sending Oopsy plummeting towards his doom.  And apparently the powered up bears are faster than their cloud cars, because the Team leaps out and follow Oopsy down, streaming sparkles all the way.  They even fall faster than Oopsy and manage to get beneath him.  Using their badges, they slow their descent, and then create a pool of light that catches Oopsy without much trouble.  With Oopsy safe, Grumpy demands to know what he was doing out in the middle of nowhere, but before Oopsy can explain, Bedtime falls asleep, breaking the pool of light and sending the other bear falling again.  Cheer quickly rigs up a rainbow slide to catch Oopsy, and Share rushes to the bottom to grab him.  He survives, but his berries do not.

With the rescue complete, the main titles show up, set to the modified AiCaL theme song.  Back in Care-A-Lot, Grumpy again demands to know what Oopsy was up to, and Oopsy explains that he went to pick berries in a cloud canyon, when a piece of the cloud floated off with him on it.  Which is why no one's supposed to go there alone, Funshine points out, even if the best berries grow there.  And they do, as Grumpy forgets himself for a minute to fanboy over them.  Oopsy is chastised by everyone, then sent to clean himself up before the night's festivities.  It seems that it's time for the twinklet migration, last seen in Adventures in Care-A-Lot episode 6.  The CPT plan on watching from the Care Tower, but there haven't been that many Twinklets these past few years.  Share is optimistic that this year there'll be more to make up for the deficit, and she fantasizes about the baby stars meeting Princess Starglo, the mother of all wishing stars.  When Grumpy scoffs at her for believing in a fairy tale, she responds by singing a song about believing in things and having hope. Despite the catchy song, even Funshine has his doubts, but Cheer humors her.
As night falls, bears all over Care-A-Lot get into position to watch the migration.  Up in Care Tower, Share shows off her holographic Princess Starglo storybook, telling of how the baby stars live in Glitter City until the princess grants their wish to be full-grown stars, then places them in the night sky.  By the time she's done, the first star of the evening appears, so Share wishes on it, to Grumpy's consternation.  The others force him to humor Share, who doesn't seem to have noticed him anyway.  But the time for the migration to start has arrived, so the bears keep their eyes on the sky.
As the night wears on, one by one the bears fall asleep, except for Share, who keeps watching, but no twinklets show up.  She wakes the other with a shout, then rushes off to do something about the situation.  Grumpy tells her not to panic, that maybe the migration is really tomorrow.  The others agree, and Bedtime sends everyone off to bed, much to Share's dismay.  But just as she's about to head home herself, a lone twinklet appears in the sky and makes a crash landing in Care Square.  Share and the rest of the CPT rush to its rescue, but it seems all right.  Grumpy claims this proves his hypothesis, that the migration is tomorrow, and this twinklet is just ahead of the group.  Share decides to take care of the twinklet in the meantime, naming it Gleamer.  But she still can't shake the feeling that something has gone wrong.
The others start to leave, but Share calls for all of them to go to Glitter City themselves and discuss what's going on with Princess Starglo.  Grumpy and Funshine tell her that no one's ever been to Glitter City, and that Princess Starglo is just a story.  But Grumpy promises to bring his telescope to Care Tower in the morning so they can look for the rest of the twinklets.  Share starts to protest, but Bedtime intervenes, sending her home to bed.  Though she tries to sleep, Share just can't forget her worries, and decides to go to Glitter City with Gleamer on her own!  Grabbing her book, she climbs into her cloud car, only to realize she has no clue where Glitter City actually is.  Neither does Gleamer, but this does not dissuade Share from her trip.  She resolves to simply find it, and takes off.
Share isn't completely without direction, though, as she knows the direction that the twinklets go when they migrate, plus, the poem from her book has a clue, too.  And as she has the poem memorized, she doesn't notice the book fell out of her car when she took off.  She looks to the right of the Big Dipper, as in the poem, but there's nothing there.  But since all stars, even twinklets, have a connection to Glitter City, she asks Gleamer to try sending out a signal, and sure enough, a tiny pinprick of light appears.  And so Share and Gleamer drive off into the night, heading for what must be Glitter City.

As they travel, they come to a green-gold cloud, and Gleamer warns Share not to go any further.  It's a cloud of stardust, apparently, so Share uses her badge to blow some of it out of the way.  This creates a hole in the cloud for them to go through, though why they didn't just fly over the cloud, I don't know.  Sure it was big, but not that big.  But that was just one cloud of many, and though the rest of the clouds are smaller, they're also stormclouds, so Share picks up the pace, narrowly avoiding lightning bolts.  That danger over, they suddenly see an island of sparkling spires right before them: Glitter City!
Back in Care-A-Lot, morning has arrived, but the sky is still dark.  As the CPT wonder what's going on, the stars in the sky start disappearing right before their eyes!
 Share lands her cloud car and approaches the main gate, which is open, and notices the city is devoid of any type of activity.  She wonders what's going on, and Gleamer has no clue, so they simply enter the city.  Share wonders where Princess Starglo is, and is bombarded with a bright light.  It seems that hearing her name summoned the princess herself.  Seeing that she was right along, Share is beside herself, and introduces herself and Gleamer.  But the princess is not glad to see her, proclaiming that she no longer makes stars, and sends both Share and Gleamer on their way.  She tells them to visit the gift shop, and disappears in a flash of stardust.  She reappears and disappears a few more times, spouting various non sequiters.  Share's surprised at how weird the princess really is, not at all what she expected.  Still, she follows after Starglo as she enters the tallest spire, asking for her help.
Starglo insists she's busy and sends them off yet again, flying to the very top of the spire.  Share unexpectedly finds an elevator and follows her up.  She and Gleamer find themselves in an observatory room, and watch as Princess Starglo mutters to herself and touches lights on an orb in the center in the room.  As she does, the corresponding stars in the sky go out.  Share can't understand why the princess would do that, so Starglo explains that the stars are still there, just not lit up, due to a lack of power.  It seems that believing in Princess Starglo and wishing on stars power the entire city and all the stars, but not very many folks do either these days.  Share points out that she believes and wishes, and while Princess Starglo is grateful, the belief of just one bear just isn't enough.  She heads off to turn off the rest of the city, ignoring Share's cries that without the city, the twinklets will have no place to go, which will lead, in turn, to no more stars.  Seems to me that there's plenty of stars already, but Share refuses to let that happen.
Down in Care-A-Lot, Bedtime despairs as the last of the stars go out, but no one is awake to help him do something about it.  So he heads into Dreamland, where everyone seems to be having gravity-defying dreams.  He comes across the rest of the CPT having a surreal game of Belly Badge Ball and uses his badge to wake them up.  Seeing all the stars gone, they start to band together to find out what happened, but realize that Share is missing.  They can't find her at her house, but Bedtime's slippers, which are sentient in the CPT universe, I guess, notice the book that fell, and bring it to Bedtime's attention.  This piece of evidence makes it obvious where Share's gone, but without daylight, all anyone wants to do is sleep.  So Funshine creates a mini-sun with his badge, bringing Care-A-Lot back to life.  Since the mini-sun is only temporary, the rest of the CPT get ready to roll out.  Bedtime suggests that he stay behind, just in case, and so Funshine, Grumpy, and Cheer get going.

In Glitter City, Share tries in vain to get Princess Starglo to stop powering down the city.  For some reason she thinks that she can turn everything back on with just a touch, ala Princess Starglo, but the real Starglo sets her straight: only she has that power.  As she laughs with glee, more of the city goes dark, and she prepares to leave.  Shares insists that she just can't do that, reminding her of her heritage as the first twinklet and mother of all the stars.  Starglo is not impressed, however, as she's heard all those stories, too.  For the first time, Share's belief starts to waver, but Starglo admits that all the stories are true.  This leads to a call-and-response song for the two of them, with Share trying to convince Starglo that she's still important, and the princess not quite buying it.
The song does lower the princess' defenses, and she reminisces about watching her stars take their place in the sky for the very first time.  But, she points out once again, without belief and wishes, there's nothing to be done.  Her point is made very clear when Gleamer suddenly grows weak and starts to fade.  Starglo gives him a jolt of power, but explains she can only help him for so long.  This right here is why she's putting out all the stars.  As she goes to her orb to make sure she didn't miss any, she sees the other members of the CPT heading their way.  Gleamer spots this and tries to alert Share, but as she doesn't speak star, she instead follows him to the orb.  Starglo tries to keep Share from spotting the image of her friends, but she spots it anyway.
With a wave of her hands, Starglo creates a cloud of stardust for the others to fly through.  Unlike Share, they immediately think to go around, rather than through it, but the cloud won't let them.  With another wave of her hands, Starglo has the cloud become a tornado, claiming that since Share got in too easily, she'll have to up the danger levels this time.  Share tells her to stop, but Starglo refuses, stating that Share set her back in her plans enough as it is.  But she promises not to actually hurt anyone, just spin them around until they go on their way.  Of course, she doesn't know the Care Bears very well, and they manage to hatch a plan to get out of there.  Funshine figures that stardust likes light, so he uses his badge to create a giant ball of light, which the stardust cloud takes off after immediately.
Not to be defeated so easily, Starglo ups the lightning in the stormclouds Share flew through earlier, which knocks Grumpy out of the cloud car.  Unlike last time, the other CPT members stay in the cloud car and fly down to catch him.  Seeing her lightning failed, Starglo makes sure the gates are closed this time, keeping them out, and her and Share in.  Share has finally come to realization that the real Starglo is nothing like the one in her storybook, but Starglo has no rebuttal for her.
The others finally make it to Glitter City and spot Share's car.  Finding the gates locked, Grumpy attempts to "coax them open" with a lightning bolt, which hits a few of the locks, but then makes a beeline for his bottom.  Starglo crows over her apparent victory, but Share goes to open the gates herself.  But of course Princess Starglo shuts off power to the elevator, trapping both Share and Gleamer while she goes to take care of other things.

Meanwhile, Funshine declares unlocking the gates unattainable, so Cheer suggests just going over them.  However, each time they try, then end up mysteriously back where they started.  So it's back to trying to unlock the gates.  This time, Cheer notes a pattern, and remembers Grumpy's lightning bolt changing it when he used it earlier.  Grumpy declines to try that method, though, since he still has singe marks on his behind.  But there's no other alternative, so try it they must.  Grumpy sends off his bolt and then gets well out of the way.  The locks begin to flash in a pattern, and so the reduced CPT turn on their Care Power and go in to investigate.  Cheer finds the answer, and fortunately they only have to turn three of the locks to get the gates to open.  The three bears enter the darkened city, remarking on how empty it is.
Share, meanwhile, attempts to get the elevator to work again by using the touchpad, despite Princess Starglo already demonstrating that only she has that kind of power.  She surmises it must be a "star thing," and asks Gleamer to give it a try.  And it works!  For a split second.  Oh, well.  Just then, Share spots her friends in Starglo's orb, and seeing they've gotten into the city ups her resolve to get out of the spire, one way or another.  And since Gleamer was almost able to make the elevator work, she assumes two Gleamers will do the trick, and uses her badge powers to double it.  The two Gleamers get it working for a full second this time, and Share, remembering what Princess Starglo has been saying this whole time about wishes and belief, repeatedly states her belief in the Gleamers, which gives them the power to get the elevator working for real.  The two Gleamers become one, and Share heads out with twinklet in tow.
Princess Starglo continues powering down the buildings in the city and hears the other bears calling for Share.  Funshine worries for Share, since she was so worked up about Princess Starglo, and now there's no one in Glitter City at all, but Grumpy is just adamant about the nonexistance of any Starglo.  Which of course is when Princess Starglo decides to show herself to them.  Grumpy freaks out, certain that she plans to eat them, and Cheer and Funshine's "Oh, you really are real," comments don't win them any points either.  Starglo rants at them about taking the stars for granted, and Grumpy starts to protest that he doesn't, but she shuts him up right quick and tells them all to leave.  (I'm kind of curious, how does Grumpy believe he doesn't take stars for granted?)  But they won't go without Share, so it's convenient that she shows up right then, isn't it?
The others apologize to Share for not believing in her belief, but Share tells them her belief wasn't entirely right, either, since she's learned the real Starglo is nothing like the one in her book.  As Princess Starglo continues about her business, Share explains the whole "no one believes in her or wishes on stars" thing, and they point out that they believe now, doesn't that count?  Nope, according to Starglo.  At last, she powers down the last building.  The Care Bears look around the darkened city, and Share just can't take it.  She demands Princess Starglo turn everything back on and call back the twinklets, but Starglo refuses.  As the princess flies off, Share tells the others she's tried everything to change Starglo's mind, but Starglo points out that she didn't try offering her a cookie.  Not that it would have worked, but the point  is made.  This last non sequiter is the last straw, and so the CPT decide it's time to help Starglo "understand."  Saying she's too upset to think clearly, they surround her for a Care Bear Stare, but first they have to sing the Care Power theme.

The Care Bear Stare leaves Princess Starglo feeling radiant, and optimistic that the belief of four bears and one twinklet is enough to give her the power she needs to restart the city and light all the stars!  She starts with the tallest spire, and for a second it looks like everything's going to be okay.  But then the light fades away, and Princess Starglo remembers that she can't turn the city back on once it's been turned off.  Not with just the belief of four bears and one twinklet, anyway.  Her very existence hinges on people's belief, after all, and sure enough, she's beginning to fade away.  Gleamer also feels this lack of belief, fading like it did before.  Share calls on the princess to help the twinklet, and despite the fact that Starglo is facing the end of her own life, she tries, but can't do anything.
Cheer immediately makes the leap from the end of Starglo to the end of Care-A-Lot, which is news to Share.  Funshine fills her in on what happened down there, which fills Starglo with remorse, as she didn't realize the ramifications of turning off all the stars (including the sun).  As the princess openly weeps, Share finds it in her heart to forgive her, and this belief in Starglo gives her a second wind.  If only more people believed in her, she could turn things around!  So Grumpy hatches a plan to make more people believe: send a beacon out to Care-A-Lot, and they'll know what to do.
Speaking of Care-A-Lot, Funshine's mini-sun finally gives out, leaving the others wondering what to do.  Bedtime, as the current representative of the Care Power Team, advocates waiting for the other members to get back.  The other Care Bears aren't so sure that those guys even made it to Glitter City, so Bedtime distracts everyone by reading from Share's storybook.  He reads the story of how Princess Starglo was once the only star, so she built Glitter City, and if everyone believes, all the twinklets will join her there, and together they'll fill the sky with stars.  The bears listening affirm their belief in Princess Starglo, but more than anything, they just want the stars back.  And just when it looks like things are going to get wistful, they all spontaneously burst out into Share's song of belief from earlier.

As the song ends, a spark of light twinkles in the night sky, and Bedtime recognizes it as Glitter City (somehow).  It's actually the other members of the Care Power Team shining light from their belly badges.  Princess Starglo can tell that it's working, but advises more sparkle from Grumpy, who doesn't appreciate the constructive criticism.  Gleamer, meanwhile, is getting worse, so Share gives it all she's got.  Down in Care-A-Lot, the bears cheer to see the light, and Gleamer starts to shine again, and even Starglo becomes more solid.  Bit by bit, the city comes back to light, shining radiantly in the night sky.
With belief reinstated, Princess Starglo goes to turn the stars back on.  Seeing that their job is done, the CPT prepare to leave, though Share wishes she could stay.  But Starglo is adamant, Glitter City is for twinklets and stars only.  Still, she's glad that they came, and even makes them honorary stars.  As for Gleamer, she makes him her personal assistant, and even gives him the entire show, which involves spotlights, a big announcement, and Starglo using her powers to make him the official wishing star.
The bears start to go, but Share hangs back, and Starglo gives her a hug, thanking her for everything.  Share also says her goodbyes to Gleamer, and Princess Starglo reminds them all to believe.
One year later, the CPT unveil a new light on the Care Tower, to guide twinklets and remind Princess Starglo that they believe in her.  When night falls, the CPT rush to the top of the tower to watch, and Princess Starglo materializes to join them, much to their surprise.  It seems she's letting Gleamer guide the twinklets this time, and is using the opportunity to view the migration from the other side.  She doesn't stick around long, though, as she has to train the new recruits.  As Grumpy wonders how she can blink through glass, the movie ends.

Watching this one, it's easy to see why the other CPT movies went the "glorified episode" route.  To stretch the story out, the whole "not enough wishes and belief" thing is repeated over and over, which just serves to make Share look like an idiot who doesn't pay attention to what people are telling her.  Speaking of which, that whole thing really was not handled well, at all.  Princess Starglo makes it clear that her and the stars' very existence is at stake, giving her the audience's sympathy.  Cheer keeps trying to convince her not to go ahead with her plan without giving any particularly good reasons why she shouldn't, yet the audience is asked to view her point as the right one.  Thus, when the other Care Bears show up and give her a Care Bear Stare, it feels like they're forcing her to go along with their views without considering all the facts.  And when Starglo uses up nearly the last of her power in the misguided attempt to relight Glitter City thanks to said Stare, it is the princess who ends up apologizing.  On the other hand, by turning off all the stars, including the sun, she nearly doomed all life on Earth and Care-a-Lot, for the sake of her own life.  But this point is barely touched on in the movie, and not until the end.
I guess the real problem is that Share left Care-a-Lot before seeing the stars going out, thus she had no real argument for why Starglo shouldn't turn them off.  So for most of the movie, Starglo's reasoning seems like the right choice, even though it isn't, really.  Maybe if she'd just left the sun on and turned off the rest of the stars, that could of worked?  And if the belief of four bears and one twinklet wasn't enough power to light up the city, how did the belief of twenty five Care Bears max do it?  And if Gleamer's belief counted, then shouldn't the belief of all the stars in the sky have counted?  That would have powered Starglo up for sure!  Then again, maybe Starglo was just humoring Gleamer.
Plotholes aside, there were a bunch of things I liked about the movie.  For one thing, it was nice to see the Care Bears having dreams that seemed like actual dreams, rather than the mundane dreams they had back in Adventures in Care-a-Lot.  As usual, Bedtime is adorable when he gets to be part of the action.  And Princess Starglo has the best expressions.  Seriously, the real reason I waited for the DVD to come out over here before writing this up is because I needed to be able to use the frame-by-frame tool to get her expressions just right:

The only special feature on the DVD is a game where you have to figure out the locks on Glitter City's gates, in case you were wondering.  Oh, and some trailers, but I don't really count those.

Misc. Screenshots:
Share rides a star
Fireworks
In Dreamland, the trees are smiling
There really is a Starglo
Happy Starglo
Cheering for the stars

And so the Care Power Team/AiCaL era comes to an end.  Sad to see it go, really.  While the new series might be good, I have severe doubts.  And no matter what, it will never be as cute as the AiCaL style.

First look at New Care Bears Series

Over at WorldScreen, a licensing book reveals what the new Care Bears will look like in CGI.  Truth be told, it's a little freaky.
Now, a couple of months ago I stumbled onto two audition videos for the series (which have since been set to private, naturally), but I didn't post about those here, since I didn't know if the info in the dialogue was legit.  But it appears that it was, as WorldScreen also has a video section where you can catch a short clip from (what I assume is) the first episode.

Tenderheart's niece, Wonderheart

From the clip, we learn that the new series will once again focus on the bears helping kids (though whether it'll be just one ala Makena remains to be seen).  And what's up with Tenderheart having a niece, anyway?  The bears look a little better when they're actually in motion, and I like the fuzziness.  But I have to wonder, is the animation supposed to be emulating stop motion, or is it just bad?

Care Power Team: The Giving Festival Movie

Closing out my holiday season, here's Care Bears: The Giving Festival, which has the bears preparing for their Christmas-by-another-name celebration by remembering non-holiday related anecdotes.

This one begins with an abruptly abridged version of the theme song as we pan through the clouds to a very blustery day in Care-a-Lot.  Share struggles to get from her house to Grumpy's garage, even though the wind threatens to blow her very belly badge off, but she gets a little help from Wingnut, and together they make it to Grumpy's.  Seeing Share, Grumpy practically drags her inside, annoyed that she would be out in this kind of weather.  But her desire to see his new snow machine calms his ire, though he does accidentally turn it on while showing it off, creating a flurry inside his garage.  The reason for the snow machine: Princess Starglo is coming for the Giving Festival, and since she's never seen snow before, it's their present to her.  But if the wind keeps up like it is, the festival may have to be cancelled, Grumpy points out.  Share tells him to think positive, and Grumpy promises, for her, though it goes against his nature.  He, Share, and Wingnut go to put the snow machine in position and then head over to the Care Power Station, where Oopsy is manning the searchlight (to help Princess Starglo find her way).

At the station, the other bears worry about Funshine and Cheer, who went to get the decorations for the festival, and still aren't back yet.  This reminds them of when they had to help Grizzle find his home, apparently, and thus begins the flashback....
On an ordinary Care-a-Lot day, the Care Beacon's alarm is going off, so Funshine rushes over to the Care Power Station to see what the trouble is.  But it was just the weekly beacon test, much to Funshine's disappointment.  It seems there hasn't been a caring emergency in quite some time, which is technically a good thing, but for a bear like Funshine, it can get pretty boring.  Grumpy points out that he has plenty to do, even during peaceful times, and the girls escort Funshine out of the building, telling him to just enjoy himself.
Meanwhile, Grizzle, up in his lair and sans suit for some reason, complains about how Care-a-Lot blocks his view, and since they built that huge Care Power Station, I can't say I blame him.  He ponders what to do about the eyesore Care-a-Lot has become, and decides to move it out of the way himself with the bears none the wiser.  Unaware of Grizzle's scheme, the Care Bears play, and Funshine spends the day trying to find a use for his Care Power, but to no avail.  Once the day is done, Grizzle descends and attaches a large hook to Care-a-Lot, then ramps up the power on his lair's rockets.  The force of the towing shakes Care-a-Lot and wakes everyone up, but the cloud doesn't seems to be moving.  Grizzle adjusts one of the rocket boosters to see if that will help, but to his dismay, he sees the cable attached to the hook is starting to break!  Despite his best efforts, the cable snaps, and he ends up on the end still attached to Care-a-Lot, watching as his lair sails off into the night.
Grizzle climbs up the cable, but ducks down again when he sees Funshine and the rest wander by, wondering just what that was all about.  Funshine, of course, is all gung ho to get powered up to handle it, whatever it was, but Grumpy is all "and then what?" and then Bedtime shows up and tells them everything this fine, go back to bed.  The next morning, the rest of the Care Bears make sure Care-a-Lot is okay and take care of any fallout, but there isn't that much to do.  Oopsy and Share spot the cable from the hook, but have no clue what it's doing there.  And then they hear the sound of snoring, but it isn't from Bedtime... Grumpy volunteers Oopsy to check out the noise, and he finds the sleeping Grizzle (though he freaks out at first, not realizing who it is, I guess).  Now awake, Grizzle is surrounded by the other members of the CPT.  Grumpy rightly assumes Grizzle had something to do with the previous night's "cloud quake," but Grizzle spins a story about how the mysterious shaking knocked him out of his lair, and now it's gone.  Grumpy's not buying it, but Cheer points out that his lair isn't in the sky any more, so at the very least he needs their help with that.  Funshine rejoices, finally a reason to power up!  And thus, they all power up their badges and fly off to the care station, promising to pick up Grizzle in just a minute.  While they're gone, Grizzle confides in the audience that his original plan may have gone awry, but once the bears are in his lair, he can spring his new trap on them.  Being without his suit, he needs a boost into the cloud car, and ends up in a compromising position on Grumpy.  What purpose this scene serves, I know not.

As they fly through space, Grumpy shows off his fancy locator, but Grizzle doesn't trust it, so he tries to take control from Grumpy.  Predictably, this ends with the locator in two pieces, but it doesn't much matter, as they've already come across Grizzle's lair, which is just floating out in space, having run out of fuel.  They land and dismount, but Grumpy is suspicious, so much so that his belly badge turns into a fish.  Share declares their duties over, but Grizzle implores them to stay so he can give them some lemonade to thank them.  The other bears are hesitant, wondering if they should trust any "lemonade" that Grizzle would serve.  Grizzle tries to get them to let bygones be bygones, but Grumpy points out that most of those "bygones" are attempts to take over Care-a-Lot.  Grizzle blames this on a bad mood, and wants to be friends, though he can't quite say the word.  He goes off to get the lemonade, with the Care Bears asserting their assumption that he's up to something as he goes.
While Grizzle works on a trap, Grumpy finds the other end of the cable and he and the others put two and two together, figuring out Grizzle's whole plan.  Grizzle calls them over, then pulls the lever for his hanging cages trap.  Only Cheer was in his line of capture, but Funshine gets her out of the way just in time.  Grumpy's all "Aha!" and the Care Bears confound Grizzle's cages by running all over the place, then politely stopping on an X.  Grizzle pulls the lever again, but that cage falls a few feet over from its target.  They then stop on another X, but this time Grizzle double checks its trajectory and pushes the bears into position himself.  As he goes back to throw the lever, Share puts a couple of lollipops into the pulley and Grumpy sends a cloud to one of the rockets at the edge of the lair, so that when Grizzle does throw the lever and then goes to see why nothing happened, the cloud zaps the rocket to life, tilting the lair and setting the cage onto Grizzle, which is when Share removes the lollipops.  Long story short, Grizzle ends up in the cage, and the Care Bears laugh at him.
Despite Grizzle's actions, Share still wants to help him bring his lair back to its usual position.  Grumpy and Funshine are incredulous, citing the facts that Grizzle just tried to capture them and never gave them any lemonade, but Cheer reminds them that's it's the right thing to do.  They inform Grizzle of their decision, but bind him up with a rainbow regardless.  As they pilot Grizzle's lair back home, Cheer asks Funshine if the finally got the excitement he was craving.  And he did, plus the knowledge that with Grizzle around, something exciting is always bound to happen if he just waits long enough.  That's pretty much the end of the flashback, but in the present Share adds that Grizzle roomed with Grumpy until his lair was back in working order.
The control panel starts beeping, and the screen shows the wind is getting stronger, putting the beacon at risk.  So Share and Grumpy activate their Care Power and take Wingnut with them to secure it.  Share uses her lollipops to steady it, and Grumpy zaps each one to make it take hold.  While they're up there, Wingnut spots Cheer and Funshine returning at last, so they hurry back inside.  Unfortunately, the wind blew away all the snacks and decorations, making Share despair for the Giving Festival's future.  Funshine reminds her that they've faced rougher times than this, which reminds Wingnut of the time Share wanted to pick rainbow buds...

In the flashback, Wingnut carries Oopsy to that part of Care-a-Lot that's slightly above it, where Grumpy is unveiling his latest invention, an automatic bumbleberry delivery system.  Why Care-a-Lot needs this, I don't really know, but we do know that Grumpy really enjoys his bumbleberries, so hey, why not?  Attach it to a bush and it harvests the berries (somehow), setting aside the best ones in a basket.  One of the berries falls out, so Oopsy goes to replace it, despite Grumpy's objections.  As per usual, he trips on nothing, spilling all the berries, which makes Grumpy slip and bump into his machine, which sets it loose to shoot berries at him and start boring into the ground until Wingnut shuts it off.  Before Grumpy can express his layers of displeasure at this, the beacon on the Care Power Station starts going off, so the CPT power up with an awesome starry background behind them.  As they fly off to handle some kind of emergency, Oopsy and True Heart decide to do something nice for them, and come to the conclusion that the team could use a day off.  So they plan to give the CPT a day at WooHoo World, and go to get the other non-CPTers in on it.
On the appointed day, Surprise "informs" the CPT of an emergency at the theme park, then joins the others who are waiting to surprise the team.  And they are very surprised indeed.  Oopsy promises to take care of any emergencies that may arise while they're spending the day at the park, which should be minimal, since all the other bears are spending the day at the park, too.  All except True Heart.  Oopsy pushes her to join the fun, but this only drives her away in tears.  He spends the day chasing after her, but with no luck.  As he searches, the CPT thank him for holding down the fort, and Share invites him along on their rainbow bud-picking excursion the next day.
Wingnut finally finds True Heart crying behind the bushes, and calls over Oopsy.  True Heart initially sends him away again, but opens up to him when he asks what's wrong: she wants to ride the Funderbolt, but is too afraid.  Oopsy sees this as his chance to handle a real caring emergency, and declares his vow to help True Heart overcome her fears.  True Heart is down with this, fortunately, so Oopsy and Wingnut imitate the CPT's Care Power On poses.  Being Oopsy, this ends with them both in the lake, and True Heart laughs at them.  Later that night, they sneak into WooHoo World, and Oopsy tries to figure out just what about the Funderbolt frightens True Heart.  The individual elements (being up high, spinning, sudden drops, going fast, etc.) aren't usually a problem, but the combination is what gets to her.  So Oopsy hypothesizes that if they can get her used to each element on its own, then she'll be able to take riding the Funderbolt.

A bench covers the element of height, and Oopsy and Wingnut can spin her just fine, but the rest is a little harder.  Oopsy has her ride the ferris wheel to combine heights and spinning, which is all well and good, until Wingnut accidentally hits the speed lever, setting it to Fastest.  Oopsy and Wingnut struggle to get it back down to Slow, but hearing True Heart's screams, Wingnut simply goes for the Emergency Stop.  Luckily for both of them, True Heart had a blast and is now ready to face the Funderbolt, as long as they're both with her.  Of course, it is the middle of the night, and Bedtime shows up to bust them for not being in bed.  So they all go home with plans to meet up in the morning.
Their morning meet up is interrupted by Share and some other Care Bears on their way to pick rainbow buds.  Oopsy turns down her invitation, and True Heart thanks Oopsy for staying with her.  Then it's off to the Funderbolt!  Oopsy assures True Heart that she can still back out, but she's determined to go through with it.  Meanwhile, the bud-pickers head into a cave where rainbow buds grow (?), and Harmony has some fun with her echo before they get down to business.  The picking is relatively easy, but when Grumpy finds one that refuses to come loose, it attracts the attention of the others and they gather around him, making an unfortunate landing for him once he finally wrenches the bud loose.  The impact creates a cave-in, trapping the bears inside.  So the CPT turns on their power, and Grumpy tries using some thunder to break up the rocks blocking the entrance, but it just bounces back at them.  Cheer's rainbow beam suffers a similar fate, which puts a kibosh on anyone else trying something.  Figuring that Oopsy and True Heart could do something, they have to figure out how to get their message out.  Funshine spots a crack in the cave's ceiling, and so all the bears, CPT and non-CPT alike, combine their badges' power and manage to set off the Care Alarm, just as Oopsy and True Heart are about to ride the Funderbolt.
Hearing the alarm, and seeing no CPT members answering the call, True Heart and Oopsy put aside their ride and rush to the Care Power Station with Wingnut in tow to see what's going on.  Finding the station empty, Oopsy pushes the button to find out the nature of the emergency, and sees the cave-in.  He starts to panic, calling for them to get help, until True Heart points out that they're the help.  Which is all the excuse Oopsy needs to put on his costume again.  The three of them brainstorm a way to get everyone out that's quick, and Wingnut remembers Grumpy's machine from the other day boring into the ground, and hypothesizes that it will bore through rock just as easily.  With no better ideas, they take off to implement Wingnut's plan.  But first they have to figure out how to get the heavy machine to the cave, which is also on the cloud just above Care-a-Lot.  The fastest solution is to use the Funderbolt to catapult it up there, especially since they just spent all that time getting True Heart ready to ride.  And so True Heart and Oopsy head off, and with Wingnut adjusting the track at the appropriate time, they make it up there and have an awesome time doing it.

With the machine in place, it's just a matter of seconds before the rocks break and fall away, freeing the captive bears.  But the strain was too much for Grumpy's machine, and it falls to pieces.  Grumpy is quick to point this out, but is glad that it was for a good cause at least.  He gives Oopsy and True Heart rainbow buds for their trouble, and then they all go home for a celebratory Funderbolt ride.  Several, in fact, leaving the other bears woozy, but True Heart is still raring to go!  Fortunately, Wingnut is ready and willing to be her ride buddy, while Oopsy worries that he's created a monster...
Share completely misses the point of the story and thinks it's an attack on her poor planning of their rainbow bud-picking excursion, but before they can debate this, the wind picks up again, making the cancellation of the Giving Festival a real possibility.  Oopsy comments that they'll just have to stay inside, giving the others an idea!  They'll just hold the Giving Festival inside the Care Power Station, using Grumpy's stash for snacks.  The bears and Wingnut leap into action getting the station ready: cleaning, multiplying the berries, and putting up decorations.  But just as they're about the get the word out about the festival's new location, the Care Alarm goes off: Princess Starglo has been captured!  So it's Care Power On time (minus Bedtime--where is he, anyway?), and the CPT use their badges to fly off into the night.  But the wind is still too strong and threatens to blow them off track.  Share spots Princess Starglo, who tries to warn them, but the wind blows even harder and knocks them back.  Not ones to give up, the bears just fly in with more determination, but soon they reach a standstill, despite their best efforts to keep moving.
Suddenly, they hear evil laughter, and Princess Starglo's captor shows himself.  Some kind of wind creature named Windle, he claims the bears are trespassing on his part of the sky, but the CPT just want Starglo back.  Windle refuses, and with a mighty breath he nearly blows them right out of the sky.  But they rebound and realize they need to take action.  Windle tries to blow them away again, but this time they're ready, and Cheer uses a rainbow to capture him.  But before it can grab him, he teleports away, turning up right behind her and blowing both her and Grumpy out of the way.  This leaves him off-guard, however, and Funshine manages to clock him with a light ball.  With Windle out of the way, Share uses her badge to make a key to open Starglo's cage, but he blows it right out of her hand.  Having had enough of his attitude, Share outright asks him why he captured Starglo.  It turns out he has some beef with the Giving Festival, which of course just earns him a big fat Care Bear Stare.  His mood lifted by the stare, he lets Starglo go and apologizes.  She forgives him and goes to join the Care Bears, leaving Windle all alone.

Seeing this, Share invites him to the Giving Festival, but he turns her down, since he doesn't have anything to give.  Grumpy guesses this is his real beef with the festival, and the others assure him that his very presence is a kind of gift.  So Windle joins them in Care-a-Lot.  With the source of the wind taken care of, the festival is back outside, and Grumpy is all set to get his snow machine started, much to Princess Starglo's delight.  Unfortunately for both of them, all the wind caused a branch to fall and damage Grumpy's snow machine, with no time to fix it.  On top of that, there isn't any time to decorate, either.  Windle feels guilty, since he was the cause of the wind, but Cheer points out they can still have the festival in the station.  Which, of course, is Oopsy's cue to show up with a decorations-related disaster.  Looks like the festival is off after all, until Starglo reminds them that the festival is about giving, not having.  And so she gives them her gift: a sparkly, twinkly Care-a-Lot.  With the festival spirit back, the bears start sharing what they plan to give, which just reminds Windle of how little he has to give, being a wind creature.  Cheer tries to cheer him up by telling him that he's probably good at different kinds of wind, with Grumpy snidely adding "cold winter gales."  Which inspires Share: Windle can cool down the clouds!  Windle catches her drift, and goes to create some snow clouds.  As the flakes drift down, Starglo flips out over seeing real snow and declares the start of the Giving Festival.
And so, there's a song and a montage to close out the show, with trains and dancing, and a present sent to Grizzle.  Aw.

Now, when I first saw the trailer for this movie, I had it in mind that the Giving Festival was the Care Bear equivalent of Thanksgiving, so I was kind of surprised that it turned out to be their Christmas instead.  I'm not really sure why I thought that, other than the "giving" part of Thanksgiving, or maybe because of the wind, and November being a windy month.  At any rate, the movie was pretty cute, though not particularly Christmas-y except for the very, very end.  And it was actually out on DVD, which is a definite plus in my book.

Misc. Screenshots:
Around the campfire
Funshine winks
Oopsy has an idea

Random Bits on my Favorites

I've only been able to catch Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures sporadically, but since it's currently airing every weekday, I figure they'll lapse into reruns eventually and I'll see them all.  I'm not sure whether or not I'll blog them here, since I also figure that they'll be released onto DVD sooner or later.  After all, the episodes from Berryfest Princess and Glimmerberry Ball have already all aired as part of the series, so it's not hard to imagine that most of the episodes will be put together in similar "movie" fashion.  And it's just easier for me to write up a review when I have a DVD to work with, rather than a captured video.  In the meantime, I just want to say: Berrykin Bloom, stop rhyme-talking!  It's so annoying.  Also, I'm glad that Jadeybug finally got to talk, even if she didn't have a Spanish accent.

As I mentioned, Care Bears: The Giving Festival will be coming out soon, and to soften the blow of Princess Starglo debuting before her actual debut, Kidtoon Films is stepping up to the plate and showing Share Bear Shines during the month of November.  So that makes things a little better, I guess.  Is a DVD release far behind?  I certainly hope not.  Then again, there's no word on To The Rescue coming to DVD, and Kidtoon showed that back in April.

I've been enjoying Maryoku Yummy, though like SSCBBA, I only catch it here and there.  I'm really not that crazy about Inu.  I mean, Nozomu is a magical land, with crazy creatures; what do they need with dogs?  I also do not like Fudan, though he may be the answer to a quibble I posted when I first blogged about MY:

I mean, what if a kid wishes for an elephant for a pet?  Seriously, that kid is never going to get one, so that's a wish that will never get granted.

Fudan is a wish that has never been granted, and has thus gotten the hang of language (in that annoying like-a-toddler-but-not-quite way).  While most wishes just speak gibberish, I was amused to see that Hadagi apparently taught her wishes to say her name.  Most of the episodes I've seen have been fun, though I find it a little suspect that Maryoku often pulls tricks to make others learn their lessons, while if the others had done such a thing, they would have had to learn not to do that.  Best moment of the show so far: when Shika made a wish, and a little wish that looked like him was delivered. ^_^

And to close things off, someone wrote an abridged version of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic two-part pilot.  They did the latest episode, too.

AiCaL CPT - To The Rescue Movie

Thought I forgot about this, didn't you?  Well, not having my laptop set me back, and watching through Netflix wasn't exactly the most motivating experience in the world (it was the rewinding that really ticked me), but here it is, the first of the Care Power Team movies available in the states.

The scene opens at night, as various Care Bears arrive at a theater lit up by spotlights while a modified version of the AiCaL theme song plays ("We'll show you how it's done, ready set, Care Power on!").  Cut to backstage, where Grumpy and Oopsy make up the only stagehands.  Fortunately for them, Grumpy's created a remote control that will let him handle everything from the lights to the music to the curtain, though in demonstrating this, he accidentally starts the show a little early.  Hearing her cue, Share takes centerstage as the host of The Rescue Awards, where the best rescues of the year are honored.  And like so many hosts of award shows before her, she sees fit to open the show with a musical number, mostly about how she's the host.
To reward Oopsy for not messing up the opening number, Grumpy lets him use the remote for the next costume change, though this somehow teleports a wig that looks an awful lot like PJ's hair from Strawberry Shortcake - The Sweet Dreams Movie onto Grumpy's head.  Meanwhile, Share has continued on, and is announcing the nominees for Most Daring Rescue (Good Luck, Funshine, and Wish).  The winner, of course, is Funshine, which makes me wonder what kind of rescues Wish and Good Luck pulled off.  I really wish that each rescue had gotten a caption or something, so we'd at least have some fun Noodle Incidents to wonder about.  But ah well.  Since Grumpy's still fuming about the whole wig incident, he misses the cue to show a video of Funshine's daring rescue until Share prompts him.  And so the video begins.

Funshine's Rescue
The scene: An ordinary day in Care-a-Lot.  While innocently strolling along, Funshine spies Oopsy high in a tree and, despite Oopsy's protests, uses his badge to whisk him back down to the ground.  Whereupon it turns out he was only playing Hide and Seek with Bedtime.  Funshine is chastised, and Oopsy and Bedtime go back to their game.  Continuing on his stroll, Funshine comes across Share and Cheer, apparently fighting over a bit of rainbow.  To solve their problem, Funshine makes a sun that neatly slices the rainbow in half, which neither bear appreciates.  Turns out they were actually playing tug of war.  "But it looked like you needed help," Funshine tells Cheer, to which Share replies, "She did!  I was winning."  Chastised again, Funshine leaves the girls and continues on his way.  Elsewhere, Grumpy puts the finishing touches on his latest invention, a clean-o-matic, and sets it to work.  At first, all seems well, until the machine sets its sights on Grumpy... Hearing the spluttering, Funshine announces his intention to save Grumpy, but Grumpy, easily able to escape the machine, just sends him on his way, and not even all that grumpily.
All these false alarm rescues leave Funshine completely bummed out, which is observed by the Nimbits (ugh...).  Seeing that Funshine just wants to help someone, they provide him with an outlet by dramatically producing an unopenable jar of mayonnaise.  Funshine opens it easily, then asks the Nimbits what they're really up to.  They admit that they want to help him help someone, but Funshine doesn't see how.  So the blue one sends a bolt of lightning toward Grumpy's new machine, sparking it into action.  The machine runs loose and starts cleaning a sleeping Bedtime, so Funshine leaps into action.  Pleased that their plan seems to have worked, the Nimbits do some kind of weird secret handshake.
With a cry of "Take this, you cleaning machine of doom!" Funshine sends a ball straight for the machine, which breaks it completely into pieces.   Grumpy is not pleased to see the course of action Funshine has taken, especially when it comes to light that Bedtime was merely being tickled by the machine's feather duster.  While the others rag on Funshine for his latest blunder, the Nimbits butt in, protesting that they were just trying to help Funshine help someone, and continue quoting platitudes about helping until Funshine stops them.  The others call for a moratorium on Funshine "helping" people and driving them crazy, so Funshine agrees, specifically promising not to rescue anyone else that day.  But Grumpy gives him an exception to help him fix his machine.
Later, in the park, the other members of the Care Power Team are playing Hot and Cold, while the Nimbits sit above them.  Proving that they have learned nothing from the day's earlier events, they plot a "small rescue" to make Funshine happy, reasoning that as long as they don't touch Grumpy's machine, everything will be A-OK.  And so they create a small tornado that picks up Oopsy while he takes his turn as It.  They congratulate themselves on a job well done, but their congratulations is premature, as the tornado starts to pick up speed, creating such a gust that the Nimbits get sucked into it themselves.  The sudden wind does not go unnoticed by Grumpy and Funshine, but only Funshine hears the Nimbit's calls for help:

Funshine: Did you hear that?  Somebody's in trouble!

Grumpy: (dryly) For real this time?

But not only is the tornado much stronger, it's also much larger, so there's no denying that this is a real emergency situation.  Funshine and Grumpy head to the park, where they run into Share and Cheer.  Funshine calls for them all to follow him to the Care Power Station, but Bedtime, asleep on a nearby bench, is picked up by the tornado, unseen by the others.  At the station, Funshine assesses the situation, and decides their best bet is to use the cloud cars to go inside the tornado.  However, it turns out that there's a tornado inside the tornado, and that's where the Nimbits are.  The wind is too strong for the bears to get close enough to the Nimbits, so Funshine flies above the tornado and gets into the second tornado from the top.  The smaller tornado quickly sucks him in and sets his car to spinning, but luckily he has some kind of stabilizer button.  The stabilizer works long enough for him to get the Nimbits, but then it's back to spinning for all three of them.  In fact, they actually manage to spin out of the tornado, which is kind of "out of the frying pan, into the fire" for them, since they're now plummeting toward the ground at a rapid rate.  But Cheer quickly takes action, flies out of the tornado and creates a rainbow slide for Funshine and the Nimbits.  Grumpy helps out by making a cloud to catch them at the end.
Safely on the ground, the Nimbits ask Funshine how they can repay him, and he merely asks them to stop and think before they do something.  The Nimbits claim to have learned their lesson, but we all know that this is highly unlikely.  Funshine also asks them to help him get rid of the wind they created, and they head for the station.  Bedtime, meanwhile, was not actually sucked into the tornado, but was deposited on an archway, and is lifted again to land who knows where.  And so Funshine uses the Nimbit's life force to supercharge his belly badge and put an end to the tornado, gently dropping Bedtime in the process and setting Oopsy free (not that anyone seemed all that worried about him, anyway).  Funshine celebrates with the Nimbits by doing that stupid handshake thing with them.
But the story's not quite over yet.  After all, that tornado created quite a bit of damage in Care Square (somehow) which now has to be cleaned up.  Too bad Grumpy's automatic cleaner was broken earlier... but wait!  Sometime between the scenes, Funshine and Grumpy finished fixing it.  Grumpy starts it up and it goes to work...cleaning him again.  As if this weren't a hilarious enough note to end on, the clip finishes with Oopsy still playing Hot and Cold, unaware that everyone else has moved on.

Back at the awards ceremony, Funshine goes to accept his award and gets air-kissed by Share.  He thanks the Nimbits in his speech and then heads backstage.  Oopsy congratulates him, and Funshine says he hopes that he wins an award, too, but Oopsy is desolate because he's never been nominated, what with not having a belly badge and all that.  Funshine consoles him with talk of "there's always next year," which is enough for him.  As Grumpy gears up for another set change, Oopsy offers to take care of it, not with the remote, but by old-fashioned hard work.  Predictably, this ends with a piece of set almost falling on Grumpy.  Meanwhile, Share announces the nominees for Most Caring Rescue (Trueheart, Cheer, and Best Friend).  Give you one guess who won this one.  Once again, Grumpy misses his cue (still recovering from almost being hit by set) and the clip of Cheer's rescue starts up late:

Cheer's Rescue
The scene: Cheer's house.  While practicing weaving strips of rainbows into rescue blankets, Cheer hears a strange noise in her garden and spots a little pink bug (who sounds an awful lot like Wasabi) hanging precariously from a leaf.  Finding that the mini-blanket she just wove is the right size for a bug, she flings it toward the tree, just in time to catch the falling bug.  With the bug safe, she tells him to be more careful in the future, and sends him on his way.  But he keeps following her around, and when she learns that he's lost, she vows to take care of him.
Later, she shows off her new pet, dubbed Nibbley, to Funshine and Share.  While those two coo over the bug's cuteness, Grumpy arrives on the scene to question Cheer about Nibbley's origins.  His suspicions are not allayed by Nibbley's cute actions, and especially not by a surprise kiss.  Cheer just laughs at him and promises to care for Nibbley forever, leading to a montage of bear and bug having fun.  Once the montage is done, Cheer attempts to make Nibbley use a fork, but he just takes a big bite out of the table instead, much to her surprise.  Seems Nibbley has a bigger appetite than his small size would indicate, as he chows down on all the canned goods in Cheer's pantry, cans and all.
After a week, Nibbley is no longer a cute little pink bug, but a larger, slightly orange bug, though his appetite is as big as ever.  He munches on the stick Cheer threw for him, and claims her watering can when she promises him "a treat."  Share shows up for an impromptu visit, and seeing Nibbley lay waste to a plank of wood, she asks Cheer how long she thinks she can keep him.  Cheer is affronted that Share would suggest getting rid of a pet just because it isn't cute any more, but Share is quick to clarify: she's concerned for Cheer's livelyhood with such a hungry pet.  In an attempt to distract the bug, Share and Cheer take him for a walk, but this fails as Nibbley finds plenty to eat, including Bedtime's pillow, Funshine's apple, and Grumpy's stool (and his just-finished topiary).  The offended bears beseech Cheer to do something about her pet, but she doesn't even know what he is.  So it's time for a visit to the Smart Heart Library!
Flipping through some sort of bug compendium, Cheer spots Nibbley's baby form and takes out the book to show the others.  Turns out that he's a gobblebug, and everyone remembers what happened the last time gobblebugs showed up in Care-a-Lot.  Grumpy calls for Nibbley's deportation, but Cheer refuses to break her promise to take care of him.  She insists that Nibbley can't help it, but even Share is against a gobblebug living in their midst, especially when Oopsy accidentally sets Nibbley's mind to Share's garden.  The bug is off like a shot with the bears close behind.  Cheer refuses to let anyone stop him by force, but her commands aren't doing any good, either.  Nibbley takes the lead and thoroughly decimates Share's garden before anyone can stop him.

Surveying the ruined foliage, Cheer makes Nibbley apologize, and then apologizes herself for not learning about Nibbley sooner.  Things are looking grim, with the future apparently featuring a lot of Nibbley-caused destruction, until Share sparks the idea of making Nibbley a garden of his own, someplace far from Care-a-Lot where he can eat to his heart's content.  Cheer turns to the book again and reads that gobblebugs come from a cloud called Not-A-Lot where this is little to no food, hence their gobbling of whatever food they come across in other places.  With this in mind, the bears head to the Care Power Station to find the perfect place for Nibbley's garden.  Since Share knows the most about gardens, she picks out a cloud, and Cheer calls for everyone to get going.  They all pile into the elevator....and wait, since Grumpy hasn't joined them.  Grumpy protests that they don't need him for this, but Funshine yoinks him along anyway.
Once they reach the cloud, Share pulls out a handful of seeds to plant, which Grumpy points out is nowhere near enough for this hungry bug.  But Share uses her badge to multiply the seeds a hundredfold and plant them in the ground, whereupon she passes the baton to Grumpy, who brings forth a raincloud.  Then it's Funshine's turn to bring on the sun, and soon the plants are growing.  With the garden a success, all the bears cry "Hooray!" except for Grumpy, who asks, as only he can, "Do I have to say 'hooray?'"  And so, Cheer and Nibbley share a goodbye, and Cheer suddenly wonders about the other gobblebugs.  Well, wonder no more, Cheer, 'cause here they all come.  Nibbley goes to join his own kind, and even Grumpy is touched, though he blames it on allergies.

Cheer accepts her award and thanks her fellow nominees, along with Nibbley, now a full-grown gobblebug (and true to fashion, munching on his chair).  She then goes on to thank everyone she can think of, until Tenderheart leads her backstage.  Oopsy congratulates Cheer, and she offers to let him hold the statuette while she goes back to her seat.  Oopsy pretends to give an acceptance speech, but since the award is heavier than it looks, it throws him off balance and he tumbles into Grumpy, knocking them both down.  Grumpy comments that at least the remote was unharmed, only for the award to slip from Oopsy's hand, hitting a button on the remote that opens a trap door that Grumpy landed on.  He plummets to the area beneath the stage, with a mattress to break his fall but no way of getting back up once the trap door swings shut again.  Up above, Oopsy clamps a hand over his mouth, but Grumpy tells him to "go ahead and say it."
Unaware of the difficulties backstage, Share announces the nominees for Best Team Rescue (Champ and Amigo, Harmony and Love-a-Lot, and Grumpy and Bedtime).  Hearing that he and Bedtime won, Grumpy searches for an exit, but stops for a moment to get the rescue clip going (since he still has the remote).

Bedtime and Grumpy's Rescue
The scene: Care Square.  It's Pillow Appreciation Day, with pillow-shaped balloons and popsicles, among other things.  Oopsy's manning the Free Pillow booth, handing out a full-sized pillow to anyone who wants one.  And most bears do, much to Grumpy's consternation.  Rather than just wait in line, he pulls out his latest invention, a robot to hand out the pillows automatically.  Seeing this contraption, Oopsy is speechless, which Grumpy takes as gratitude, but in actuality, Oopsy would rather just hand out the pillows himself.  Once the line is taken care of, Oopsy sneaks behind and adjusts a screw on the robot's back, thinking that will slow it down and let him hand out some pillows.  Instead, it starts flinging pillows at everyone, hitting with extreme accuracy.  Sadly, this does not lead to a Care-a-Lot-wide pillow fight, but pillow pandemonium!
Grumpy quickly becomes aware that something is up with his robot, and goes in to find out what.  Oopsy confesses to trying to slow it down, to Grumpy's confusion.  And so Oopsy tells him that he didn't really want any help with his job, and Grumpy apologizes.  But enough of that, the robot is still going haywire.  Seeing Bedtime get hit (and then appropriate the pillow for better napping) gives Grumpy an idea, so he grabs Bedtime to help him with his plan.
Using an umbrella as cover from the flying pillows, Grumpy and Bedtime move in as close as they can get, then Bedtime uses his badge to make an autoharp that plays a lilting version of the CPT's theme, "Care Power On."  This sends the robot to sleep, as not even machines can resist the combo of a lullaby and comfy pillows.  Bedtime and Grumpy congratulate each other on a job well done, as Oopsy also succumbs to the lullaby.

With the clip over, Bedtime goes up to accept, but Share refuses to hand over the award without both him and Grumpy there, but no one knows where he is, and the crowd is getting antsy, so Share lets him give the acceptance speech at least.  Grumpy, meanwhile, is annoyed at missing getting his award due to still being stuck under the stage, and Oopsy laments not having his own belly badge to help.  But soon Grumpy finds a hatch that's unfortunately rusted shut.  Oopsy goes to try opening it from the other side, interrupting Bedtime's speech.  Without explaining anything, he asks to borrow Funshine's badge, so Funshine sends him a little sun, which Oopsy uses to slice open the hatch, setting Grumpy free!
The audience applauds Oopsy's rescue, and Grumpy goes up to get his half of the award and give his speech ("Thanks, I guess").  Oopsy congratulates the two of them for winning, and Grumpy assures him that he'll win an award someday.  But Share rushes on stage with a last minute Judge's Prize for Most Unlikely Rescue: Oopsy!  Unfortunately, since it's a last minute prize, there isn't an official statuette for him.  Oopsy is slightly disappointed, but still glad to have won.  But Bedtime has an idea, which he whispers to Grumpy, who in turn whispers it to Share, who frankly should have thought of it herself, c'mon.  She uses her duplication powers to make another statuette out of Grumpy and Bedtime's award, which she hands to Oopsy (guess he'll have to have it re-engraved later).  The rest of the Care Power Team (minus Funshine for some reason) joins Share on stage for a reprise of the award song, and Share closes the show by giving an extra hand to everyone who takes the time to show they care.  Grumpy lets Oopsy use the remote to finish the show, but predictably, he accidentally turns off all the lights instead.

And so that was Care Bears To The Rescue, a little taste of what the new series could have been.  IMO, the computer animated version never looks as cute as the 2D version, but it still has that Adventures in Care-a-Lot feel. No Grizzle this time around, but luckily for me, Grizzle does show up in the next movie, The Giving Festival.   And since that one will be released on DVD in November (thank you!), I'll wait until then to write that one up.